Annotated Bibliography Redux (Due 12/1)

Due: Wednesday, November 19, 2014  Now, Monday, 12/1 (FOLLOW DIRECTIONS)

Worth: 25 points 

Requirements:

• One complete page, minimum
• MLA Format, including: 12 point font size in either Times New Roman or Cambria font; double space
• Two proper MLA end citations, each annotated in two paragraphs
• MLA in-text citationà Make sure to acknowledge authors, and to insert parentheses with proper information in the annotated paragraphs

What is an annotated bibliography? An AB can be considered a reflective Work Cited page. Instead of simply listing the publishing details, you follow each end citation with an annotation of the source’s topic and its thesis point, followed by the source’s importance/application to your research.

The basic information found in the annotation: (paragraph 1) what is the source’s main point, and (paragraph 2) how is it important to your research.

Generic Format

Proper Work Cited citation of your source  (Review Rules for Writers)

            A paragraph that provides analytical summary of the source: provides context for the source; provides its main point, and its main example used to support its thesis.

            A paragraph that connects the source’s main point to your research. How do you see the article supporting your essay? How are the author’s points helpful?

Student Example:

Weber, Ian. “Shanghai Baby: Negotiating Youth Self-Identity in Urban China.” Social Identities. 8.2

            (2002): 347-368. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

            Ian Weber’s “Shanghai Baby” is a cultural analysis of Wei Hui’s novel Shanghai Baby, especially its impact on urban youth identity construction in modern China (348). Weber posits that Wei Hui’s narrator’s journey is “a metaphor for the ongoing struggle by Chinese youth to reconcile individualistic and collectivist orientations” (366). The reconciliation Weber refers to is between Chinese teenagers – especially females – wrestling with their sexuality and individuality and the government’s vision for submissive citizenship. Weber comments frequently about the sexual encounters experienced by Wei Hui’s narrator being counter to the type of citizen China wants to portray (349; 355). The Chinese government has debated censorship (350) of the novel, and Weber argues that it is because sexual freedom contradicts socialist equality (366).

            Weber’s analysis supports one of the assumptions that I had going into my research of the rebellious first generation American youths in Amy Tan’s short stories: that there is a cultural conflict in regards to the Chinese elders’ views of individuality and their sons and daughters. One cultural difference I need to consider in my analysis of Tan’s portrayals of Chinese youth is that equality in the US is based on a democratic system, not socialist one, and this allows me to analyze characters’ behaviors in regards to this difference. Weber has helped me better show that Tan’s teenagers live in a new society, one that supports individual expression, which is in direct conflict with their family heritage. I now understand that there are reasons the Chinese elders have their beliefs.